We’re excited to share the finished photos of the two compact but mighty bonus sleeping nooks in the duplex. Along with those small bedrooms, we’ll show two of the hardest working areas: the hallway linen closet and the locked owner’s closet that guests don’t access. These little spaces pull a lot of weight for us, so we wanted to document how they ended up and what makes them work.
Each side of the duplex already has two larger bedrooms with closets and dressers, so we treated these smaller spots as bonus sleeping nooks—common in Cape Charles and many beach communities. They meet local building and rental codes (we have an annual rental inspection) and are designed as cozy, functional spaces for extra guests. Each nook includes thoughtful touches like a ceiling fan, light-blocking blinds, a sound machine, and wall sconces that can be turned on and off without getting out of bed.
These nooks aren’t intended as year-round primary bedrooms, but they are perfect for vacation use—when most of your time is spent at the beach or exploring the town and you only need a comfortable place to sleep at night. We aimed for cozy, comfortable, and visually interesting. Much of the personality comes from the removable wall murals we installed a few months ago.
We considered many layouts—bunks, two twins, a trundle, a single larger bed, even a Murphy bed. After a poll, two side-by-side twin beds won out. Twins are practical for adults, easy to make, and can be pushed together to create a king-size sleeping surface when needed. They also look great when styled right.
The trundle and single large bed options received fewer votes; people appreciated the flexibility of separate sleeping surfaces. For many travelers—especially families—two twin beds are ideal.
Practical design choices help these small rooms function well. A pocket door preserves floor space and a shallow wall shelf with baskets provides vertical storage without feeling intrusive. The shelf is only about 9″ deep, so it doesn’t crowd the room. Lower shelves are reachable while the top shelf is decorative. There’s also space at the foot of the beds for a suitcase.
If the in-room storage isn’t enough, there’s a generous closet located directly outside the sleeping nook. It’s a convenient step away and stores linens, extra towels, and guest items so the bedroom itself can remain uncluttered.
Inside the linen closet we reserved space for extra guest towels and linens, a high chair, and a Pack ’n Play for infants. The bottom half is intentionally left open so guests can stow suitcases, coats, or other belongings during their stay.
A small DIY trick keeps the high chair legs easy to access: we corral them with labeled PVC pipe couplings so they’re visible and simple to grab rather than tucked away on a high shelf. Clear labels and organization make turnovers smoother and help our cleaning crew return items to their correct spots.
The linen closet also stores extra bath towels, Pack ’n Play sheets, an iron, hairdryer, and a basic first aid kit. We used labeled bins to make everything obvious—labels help guests and cleaners alike find and replace items quickly, which is invaluable during fast turnovers.
Some labels communicate simple requests—like using dark washcloths for makeup removal—to protect light-colored linens. We also photograph items such as the high chair and Pack ’n Play and include those images in the listing so potential guests can see amenities at a glance without digging through the description.
The Pack ’n Play fits neatly between closets in the main bedrooms and in several other convenient spots. We added blinds to windows near baby sleeping areas to ensure a comfortable, dim environment at nap time.
The most heavily used storage areas, however, are the locked owner’s closets under the stairs next to the TVs. These spaces are locked for guest privacy, and they store bulk refills and supplies our cleaning team needs to service both sides of the duplex during turnovers.
Inside the owner’s closets we keep bulk-sized refills for hand soap, laundry detergent, fabric softener, dish detergent, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Having extras on hand is critical during short turnaround windows so cleaners can replace items quickly if needed.
The closet’s back-of-door wire shelving contains small consumables like coffee filters, tea, single-serve sweeteners, tissues, sandwich bags, light bulbs, sponges, and small trash bags. A tall plastic garage shelving unit stores toilet paper, paper towels, kitchen trash bags, and spare linens. Because the ceiling slopes, we split the shelving unit across both owner’s closets, which made efficient use of the available space.
This locked closet also houses the tankless water heater and HVAC components; a hidden key allows service technicians access when we’re not on site. We’ve organized, labeled, and consolidated supplies to streamline turnovers and reduce last-minute scrambling.
So that’s a wrap on the last interior duplex spaces. Next up: a video walk-through so you can see how each room connects and flows, plus photos of the transformed back patios, which turned out better than we hoped. We can’t wait to share them once the weather cooperates.
P.S. You can find other finished rooms and updates from the duplex project in our duplex category, where we’ve documented layout planning, tiling, and many other phases of the renovation.
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